Good People, Military Invitation, Inspirational Thoughts

Hello, Family--

(Side note from Mom: he uploaded lots of photos this time, so I'm just sprinkling them throughout.)

we have to be goofy some of the time:
Sanity Check

THANK YOU so much for the full-length letter, Dad!  Maybe because I've been sick, maybe because I didn't hear from TK or Kara last week (it's okay, they emailed this week), or maybe something else, but it was really nice to hear from everyone in the family.

GOOD PEOPLE. First, I'm glad you've gotten some communication from people saying I'm being taken care of -- from Brother Moon and Sister Syke.  I have quite a bit of support out here: the Branch President came by with a bag of oranges and a jar of honey for the recovery, and I was able to ask a nearby Elder (young adult) for a blessing.  He actually helped with the blessing.  Anziano Lindsey gave the actual blessing.

coffee cake was a hit

MILITARY INVITATION. (Side Note from Mom: Brother Moon is on the military base close to David.  He emailed us, Frank and I, after he had the missionaries over for lunch, and he sent a picture of all of them.  He also offered his military address if we wanted to send David a package.  Very nice!)

And then yes, Brother Moon grilled us some chicken on his legit grill at his house last Sunday! We didn't grill much, but it's a nice American thing to do.

Brother Moon grilling chicken

Sister Shearer also said you got the highest recorded amount of snow in Boston this year: 108.6 inches or something like that?  That's ridiculous!  Home Depot must be making a killing, even without profiteering.

Bologna

I still have a bit of chest pain and my cough.  I was "raring to get back to work" as soon as possible, but I'm seeing it would be a good idea to go back slowly, not quite as gung-ho as I had planned.  I have basically stayed sane these days: reading a lot, resting, eating, repeat.

INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHTS. I did a spiritual message along the theme of "letting your light shine" at a district meeting a couple of weeks ago.  I took some lyrics from a favorite song: "It's harder to light a candle, easy to curse the dark instead."  And I took Proverbs 20:27, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord." It was basically, that what we do is hard sometimes.

"The Jehovah's Witnesses are asked
not to knock on this door"

view from the Bologna Tower

 If we're in a tough city or having a slump in missionary work, it's easier to bemoan our fate.  What we do isn't easy, this lighting candles business.  But when we light people's candles (help them feel the love of Jesus Christ), that's the Lord's work.  And even though it's hard, we can do it.  We have been called to do it. Ce la facciamo!

Kinder Egg with a prize inside!
(these are 'illegal' in the U.S., you know:choking hazard)

I have been studying the Old Testament Manual...from 1981 because that's the one in the apartment.  I'm sure most of the information is the same.  It made some references to Ensign (church magazine) articles...from 1973.  Which happen to be accessible through Gospel Library (internet resource the missionaries can use).  So there I was, looking up conference talks from 40 years ago.  One favorite was "Becoming a Somebody," by John H. Vandenberg.  The whole conference was good, but I especially liked that talk.  My 2nd favorite was "Live Above the Law to be Free," then "What is a Friend?"  Also the first 3 talks in that Sunday morning session.

Funny how conference talks are like missionary youtube.

And on a final note, we have a zone training the 9th of April, then on the 27th Elder Bednar is coming to our mission.  And he's going to be training us on iPads, which means we'll be getting those at some point in the foreseeable future.

HAIRCUT. I also got a haircut today.  It's about a 2 on the sides, 2.5 on top.  Military short, the way I like it.

Love you!  Anziano Whitesell